


Sweet Simplicity

by XeroKittyLives



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-18 09:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28740708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XeroKittyLives/pseuds/XeroKittyLives
Summary: in which life is full of fleeting moments we each take for granted, but they're still meaningful
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	1. Lucifer

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for my absence. i'm hoping a small anthology will help me get back into the writing rhythm again
> 
> also, i need a feel for more of the characters. i'm unfamiliar with most of them

Aya paused at the study door, balancing the silver tray in her hands against one hip to tug the gold curved door handle downward, pushing open the grand polished wood door. Lucifer sat at his desk in his tall leather high-backed chair, framed by two enormous glass paned windows that let the light from the outside lamps slant in unfiltered and frame his elegant profile in psuedo-ethereal light. She stared at him, her reason for interrupting his work temporarily forgotten as she stared: he really was truly beautiful. Sometimes, being so close to him, she forgot that he had once been the most favored angel of the Celestial Realm. Falling had not stripped that enchanting aura away from him.

He looked up at her entrance, flicking his wayward hair away from his eyes and waited for her to speak. She knew he didn't like being interrupted--and she hadn't knocked, after all--so Aya quickly switched herself into automatic motion, pushing her admiring thoughts to the side for now. "I brought you tea," she stated, but he could see that so she added: "You're working a bit late tonight, so I thought I could keep you company for a while?"

Lucifer put down the pen he'd been making notes with and let out an unconscious sigh, twisting his head slightly this way and that to alleviate whatever stiffness he'd accumulated in his neck while he'd been lost in his work.

"Thank you," he murmured, sounding to her a bit tired. She felt justified in her visit now that she saw him like this, and was more than happy to sit with him and attempt to distract him from his work for a little while. Lucifer always seemed so lonely to her, especially on nights like this when all the other brothers were tucked up in their rooms, quiet (for the most part) and sound. Aya set the tray near the edge of his desk top and came around to his side, her face helplessly painted with concern.

"Can I do anything more for you? Or get something else? I can cook something if you're hungry-"

"Thank you, but no," he shook his head, one gloved hand rubbing the nape of his neck. She stared for another moment, watching the delicate, blue-black feathered locks ruffle beneath his kneading fingers, then went back around to the tray to serve him his tea. She'd brought the whole pot along with the glass sugar tray and two pretty matching teacups, so she set about making his exactly as he normally enjoyed it. And even though she had already made him tea nearly a hundred times by now, she quietly worried that it wouldn't be up to his standards.

Lucifer watched her make it patiently, the silence in his study growing comfortably between them. He already seemed less stressed and she was glad for it. She passed the cup and saucer over the desk to him and he took it from her with a small murmured politeness, waiting until she made her own and then sat down across from him before he began to drink.

"Well done," he complimented, gracing her with that loose, half-tilted smirk that made her positively giddy inside. "Your brewing skills are only getting better."

"It's thanks to you," she laughed lightly, letting her sugar cubes dissolve in the wafting heat of her own cup before taking a tiny sip. "Back in the human world, I would just microwave the water." Lucifer seemed to shudder at the mere mention of 'microwave' and 'water' in the same sentence. "Sometimes I would heat it in a pot first and just pour it over a teabag. I didn't know the first thing about proper tea brewing until I came here."

"I'm glad you made the effort to learn," he nodded, indulging in another sip before putting the cup back down to let it rest for a bit.

"Me too," she smiled at him. Then, after a brief hesitation, she set her teacup down as well and clasped her hands together in her lap, her frown from earlier returning slowly. "Uh, Lucifer?"

"What is it?" he prompted, his eyes cool and unwavering on her. Her back gave the tiniest of shivers, thrilling from the base of her spine and upward, making even her scalp tingle. Sometimes, the way he looked at her drove her absolutely crazy, and what was worse, he probably knew exactly what it did to her and therefore why he did it so often. She bit her lip, refusing to be seduced into silence by this stubborn demon. She could be pretty stubborn too, when she wanted to be.

"If it's alright with you, I mean, since it seems like you were having some neck pain before-" She scolded herself to get it together quickly and rushed onward. "Could I give you a massage?"

His eyebrows shot up in that rare surprised arch she sometimes witnessed (and often just when it was the two of them). "A massage?" he repeated, as if he were asking her to elaborate. But Aya had never in her life been delicate with her words, and she didn't think she had to explain it to him anyway. 

"I give them to Belphie a lot when he's having trouble sleeping," she rose from her seat and began to circle back around the length of the table before he could refuse her outright. "And it looked like you might need one yourself. Just a quick one!" she insisted, now standing next to him. "For your neck and shoulders. Please?"

Aya hoped she was giving him her best pleading puppy dog stare. She felt she was pouting just the right amount for it too. She could have just commanded him to do this of course, but she never liked ordering the brothers around if she didn't have to, and she wouldn't force it onto him if he was uncomfortable. But she felt that the two of them didn't have anything to feel uncomfortable about between one another. Evidently, he agreed (either that or he surmised that a negative response would make her unhappy) because his expression relaxed and he nodded.

"Very well," he resigned, though his tone wasn't an unhappy one. Aya smiled, taking his hand closest to her in both of her own and urged him to stand, which he did, looking mildly curious. She led him over to the worn, warm sofa placed strategically in front of the glowing fireplace and sat him down onto it, then hurried around behind him and settled her hands atop his shoulders. Her fingers smoothed over the fabric of his uniform, pushing out the wrinkles as she got a feel for how tense those muscles of his actually were underneath. She was a bit surprised at the resistance she felt, but quickly accepted it; Lucifer wasn't the type to care about something like this, even though he was most likely to develop such things with all the paperwork he was constantly subjected to.

"It'll only be for a bit, then you can get back to work, ok?" she assured him, rubbing her fingers up along the back of his neck where the stiffness persisted. She splayed her fingers and pushed them into the hair at the nape of his neck, furrowing them upwards along the base of his skull. Was that a moan she heard? No, she thought not. "You work too much," she murmured gently, intending to scold him but her words were softened with her concern for just how tightly wound he was. Formerly, back in the human world, Aya was the same way: no pacing, no breaks, no self-care, not seeing the need for such a waste of her time when she had other things to take care of, not even having the time to dedicate toward it anyway, even if she did.

But being down here, amongst the brothers, having to take care of each of them in their own ways, and also being cared for by them, she realized that having people around that had your well being in mind made self-care a lot easier to do. And a lot easier to spot the need for in herself and in others. Satan sometimes wouldn't sleep for being engrossed in a new book; Levi sometimes wouldn't eat because of his multiple hyperfixations; Mammon could barely keep his schedule straight; the list went on and on, and it had unintentionally become her job to make sure they all functioned a bit better with her help. They, in turn, had gotten her to eat healthier and more consistently, made her a lot more active rather than remaining stationary in her room all day, isolated from sound and sunlight for uncounted hours, and more aware of herself overall. She had them to thank for her newfound happiness and health, and she swore that she would pay each of them back tenfold.

Especially this one, the most hard-working and self-sacrificing of them all.

She had been musing these thoughts silently to herself, her eyes half closed and unfocused as she did so, her fingers automatically shifting from gentle smoothing to firmer rubs and subtle digs with the heel of her hand into particularly stubborn knots. She had become somewhat good at this sort of thing for Belphegor's sake (nowhere near as good as her tea making, but getting there) and the patterns were second nature to her now: press and smooth, release, smooth then press, repeat. She was brought back to awareness though when Lucifer's head dipped forward a little too much--he could hurt himself that way.

"Lucifer, you shouldn't-" she began, starting to reach for his slender chin to draw it back up and then she stopped, staring, and pressed her lips shut to stop the rest of her instruction. In the firelight of his illuminated profile, she could see that his eyes were closed and his face had lost its normal lined, worn look. He looked.. relaxed. Peaceful, even. And then she became even more wonderstruck because that's when she realized he had dozed off on the couch. Lucifer--Avatar of Pride, the never-ending tireless, painstakingly diligent demon--had fallen asleep beneath her finegrtips as she worked the kinks from his upper back. Her hands gently settled to a stop on top of his broad shoulders and she paused, wondering what to do next. She knew he needed to keep working. She also knew the tea would most definitely get cold soon and she would have to throw it all away and start over again--a waste she was sure he wouldn't approve of. But she couldn't bring herself to wake him just yet.

Aya quietly tiptoed around the glowing, inviting couch and settled herself gently beside him, carefully wedging herself between him and the couch back so she could support his weight. She nestled her head beneath his cheek, propping it so he wouldn't give himself a crick in the neck for napping at a weird angle, and then put her own cheek to his shoulder and stared into the fire. She wasn't tired, but she welcomed the warmth of it and him seeping into her, and let it encourage her to relax. She carefully lay her D.D.D. on her lap (with its sound off, she made sure) and kept her eye dutifully on the time. Twenty or so minutes sounded like an ideal power nap, and if he was upset with her, she'd deal with that when the time came.

But she didn't think he would be.


	2. Mammon

She had been debating going downstairs for an early lunch, a book spread open on her lap when Mammon burst into her room. He was draped with paper bags and his arms were stuffed with boxes and parcels, so at first, she only identified her sudden visitor by the shock of white hair that stuck out over the precariously stacked pile they were balancing.

"Hey! Help me, before I drop everything!" he called to her and she quickly tossed her book aside and scrambled up, grabbing three of the wrapped items off the top of the pile before they succeeded in sliding off balance and onto the floor.

"Mammon, what's all this?" she half laughed with surprise, setting them down carefully on her bed reaching out to take more. He didn't answer her, but instead kicked the door closed with the heel of his boot and sort of crab-walked over to her bed with her guidance, spilling the rest of his burden onto the blanketop, making a pile that oozed over almost the whole bed. Sighing with relief, he then carefully shed the bags he'd had looped over his arms--five or six to either one--and plunked them onto the floor. He stood up, looking slightly irritated and not making any eye contact with her as he finally explained.

"I got paid a bonus for a really good gig this morning, so I bought a bunch of stuff," he huffed, straightening his leather jacket and readjusting his glasses, his long fingers lastly stopping at his hair, fixing it meticulously back into place.

"That's great! Congrats!" she clapped her hands together in delight. Then, she glanced over at the pile of things on her bed, then the ones strewn on the floor around their feet, and finally looked back up at him. "Why did you bring them all to my room, though?" she asked.

Aya watched Mammon roll his eyes and puff his cheeks out in a little petulant huff. He bent at the waist and selected a pink tissue wrapped parcel that had slid onto the rug beside his left foot, straightened and handed it to her, his eyes still carefully looking away: "So we could open them together, why do you think?"

Aya blinked in surprise, holding the smaller crinkly thing in both her hands. She didn't really understand why Mammon wanted to open his new things in her room, but she didn't particularly mind it. "Ok!" she smiled and tore open the first layers of paper in her hands. She stopped abruptly when she saw what was inside, a little gasp escaping her lips as her eyes went wide with delight. She thought maybe Mammon was carefully observing her reaction, but she was too excited to confirm. Aya pushed away the remaining paper off of the finely stitched, stuffed pink bunny rabbit and held it up, admiring its shimmering fur and small silk ribbons that gleamed in her bedroom lighting. After another moment of stunned silence she turned her attention back to him, holding the new toy close to her chest but not quite embracing it, uncertain.

"What?" he looked a little disappointed. "Isn't that the one you wanted?"

"Yes-?" She hugged the little animal to her chest now, her fingers rubbing its soft velvety ears. "But how did you remember that? It was weeks ago!"

"You think the Great Mammon doesn't pay attention to these kinds of thing? Psh!" He shrugged and shook his head, parking himself on the edge of her bed and combing through the parcels one-handed until he found a small yellow box and held it out to her. "I remember everything you looked at that day. This one's from the magazine though."

"The magazine we were looking at together last week?" she repeated him, dazed, taking the box from his hands. He nodded. With shaking fingers, Aya tore open the box and pulled out the heart shaped choker she'd actively cooed over last Saturday night while she and Mammon were flipping through the magazines in his room. Her mouth was hanging open in shock--she knew but she couldn't help herself. She tore her eyes away from its muted rose gold glimmer and gaped at Mammon and he was indeed watching her reactions, his arms crossed over his chest and looking pleased with himself.

"You seemed to really like the whole spread, so I thought maybe I'd do something nice for ya," he explained expansively, spreading his arms out in a half gesture, indicating to the mess of bags around them.

Aya felt like she might faint. "There's more-?"

As it turned out, he had indeed bought her the entire collection she had fallen in love with. She remembered being in his room that night, lying on her stomach beside him and and pointed it out to him excitedly, flipping the pages as she babbled. Now she had the dress, the matching shoes, the handbag, the accompanying jewelry, the hair ribbons--every single piece of it laid out on her bed, the packages now all moved to the floor to make room for it. Mammon had also bought her a couple of things from their last shopping trip together; she had pointed out each of these things to him sitting expectantly on store shelves or in window displays as they passed by. She recalled that she had mused aloud about how cute she thought each item had been, and Mammon had remembered it all. It wasn't all just for her though (she didn't think she could handle it if they were): he'd actually bought the two of them matching sneakers which he excitedly explained they could wear together; a new leather jacket, a stunning black outfit for himself, and another pair of sunglasses and a watch, which he mentioned came with some sort of mystical function.

She had barely registered his explanations, though. Aya looked again at all the beautiful gifts laid out reverently beside him, wafts of paper and cardbard strewn about on her bedroom floor, engulfing her almost comically. Warm tears abruptly swelled into her eyes and she covered her face to hide them from Mammon but he saw instantly.

"Whoa, hey-!" He got up and waded through the mess of torn packaging to her side, holding up his hands as if telling her tears to wait. "Why are you crying?" His voice sounded a bit desperate. "I thought you liked all of it!"

"I do-!" Aya couldn't say any more than that. She opened her mouth to keep trying but all that came out was a tiny hiccup. Instead, she threw her arms around his chest and buried her face against him, her tears soaking into his black shirt as she soothed herself with his warmth. She heard him exclaim, but then he relaxed and rubbed a soothing hand up and down her back.

"Hey.. calm down, ok? I didn't mean to make you sad--"

"I'm not," she choked out, gathering her composure with a tiny, shuddering sigh and finally looking up at him. "I'm happy!" She smiled truthfully. "Of course I am! They're all wonderful!"

"They why are you crying?" Mammon both looked and sounded confused. She giggled, pulling away from him a bit to wipe the tearstains from beneath her eyes and spoke normally.

"Mammon, I've never...gotten gifts like this before." She indicated the beautiful dress and all the things surrounding it. "I mean, I've gotten gifts from my family on my birthday and Christmas, of course," she tried to explain, knowing that this concept would be a bit weird to him. "But no one has ever gotten me something _just because._ Much less, a whole bunch of expensive somethings. Does that make sense?"

"Huh?" he frowned, brushing her hair back away from her wet cheeks. "Why not?"

She shook her head, grinning up at him. His earnest confusion was so endearing to her. "I don't know? I usually just bought myself the things I really wanted and could afford--I didn't really ask anybody for anything."

"Not even a boyfriend?" he sounded both incredulous and confused. She laughed at the unconscious sneer that accompanied the word 'boyfriend'.

"I haven't had many boyfriends," she shook her head. "We went out places and did things, and that was nice, but no. I've never really just received things. Besides flowers, I suppose," she added as an afterthought, and immediately hoped he didn't get the idea to drown her in flowers. Not that she hated flowers, but with her reaction to his gifts she had a feeling he might do just that. And he didn't need to spend any _more_ money on her. A tiny part of her marveled at the fact that the Demon of Greed would spend his money on a single human like this willingly, with no reason or expectation of something in return.

Mammon frowned down at her. "So, uh.. do you like it, then? Getting random gifts?"

"Everybody does, I'm sure!" She laughed again. "And I do! But this is so much, I--" Her words failed her again as choked emotions rose in her throat. She slid both arms back around his waist and pressed her face into his chest again, inhaling his scent deeply. She wished she could describe exactly how loved she felt, and how much her heart was simply overflowing with gratitude.

"I'm so happy," she murmured. "Thank you, Mammon."

"Geez..." she heard him mutter. He settled a hand atop her hair and patted her, then smoothed it down along her neck, cupping her there lightly. He held her tenderly against him, his other arm hugging her close. Her fingers clung to his shirt beneath his jacket. She nuzzled him happily. "Warn me next time, if you're gonna cry like that," he scolded her with no real sternness. 

"I'm sorry," she giggled against him, her cheeks warming with a pleased blush.

"And you can't wear that outfit for anyone else but me," he demanded. "No one else gets to see you in it, understand?"

"What if we go out though?" she pressed.

"Go out?" he repeated blankly.

"On a date," she elaborated. "Can we go out on a date together? Tonight?"

"Tonight?" he repeated again. She looked up to see his cheeks were painted bright red.

"You don't want to?" she asked, teasing him a little.

"'Course I want to!" he growled, shutting his eyes to deliberately break contact and turned his face away from hers. She beamed at him regardless. "And I guess it's ok if you wear that when we're out together. But just with me, you got that?"

"Just you," she agreed, snuggling against his chest once more.


End file.
